drew mcweeney, formally of ain’t it cool and currently of hitfix, posted an interesting read last week regarding where we are now 10 years after the phantom menace. from the article:
Familiarity breeds contempt.
And prequels are a narrative dead end. Period.
Please. Please. Please.
Stop giving geeks what they ask for.
“I want the Clone Wars!”
No. No, you don’t.
You think you do. But you don’t.
“I want the Terminator Future War!”
Again… no. You really, really don’t.
It’s Pavlovian. You’re watching some good science-fiction movie you love and they mention “attack ships on fire off the belt of Orion” or some such thing… like “You’re older than the Zarkon Battlefields,” and you end up liking the movie a lot, so you end up watching the movie a lot because that’s what geeks do. And by the 43rd time watching it, and half-watching it, and watching it with friends while talking, and wallpaper-watching it, you hear that line again… “You’re older than the Zarkon Battlefields”… and you think in passing, “Man, I’d like to see the Zarkon Battlefields.” And then it becomes a thing, an itch you feel like you need to scratch.
No. No, you don’t.
Storytelling… great fun pulp storytelling, anyway… is all about forward motion. Everything is always in motion. The entire idea of backing up to fill in the blanks is counter-intuitive. So here’s where I find myself now on this entire prequel reboot remake update reinvention thing.
I’m fatigued.
so say we all!
-srd
